


Pride and Peacocks

by missazrael



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Costumes, F/F, Friendship, Jaws, M/M, gallirei, part of the Jaws universe, pride week, you don't have to read Jaws to understand it but it helps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 16:49:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14877623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missazrael/pseuds/missazrael
Summary: It's Pride Week, and Historia has found an old outfit of Reiner's for the occasion.





	Pride and Peacocks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dastupid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dastupid/gifts).



> This takes place in the Jaws universe, at some undisclosed point in the future. Happy Pride month, everyone!
> 
> We'll be back to our regularly scheduled Jaws updates on Monday, June 11th. I've got a doozy of a chapter for you!

“Historia, _no_.”

Galliard sips his beer from the couch, a pleasant buzz already circling his head, as Reiner tries to fend off the much smaller but far more determined Historia. It’s pretty entertaining, watching Reiner back away and Historia duck in under all his defenses, brandishing a box filled with sparkling materials like a weapon.

Ymir flops onto the couch beside him, lifting her own beer can in a salute. “Hot, am I right?”

“Very.” Galliard clinks their cans together, and they both drink deep.

“Gali!” Reiner turns beseeching eyes towards the couch; seeing a drop in his defense, Historia snakes one arm in and swipes a makeup brush across Reiner’s cheekbone, leaving a swatch of shimmery glitter behind. “Help me fend her off!”

Galliard shakes his head, and Ymir claps him on the shoulder. “Nope, looks like y’all got it under control.”

“Besides,” Ymir breaks in, grinning widely, “we both agreed. This is sexy.”

“See, Reiner?” Reiner turns his head at the sound of her voice, and Historia gets his other cheekbone with her makeup brush. “Everyone wants you to wear the outfit again!”

“C’mon, Reiner,” Galliard calls, warming to the idea. “Everyone else has seen you in it except me!”

Reiner sighs and drops his arms, his shoulders shaking with laughter as Historia dives in with her pencils and paints. “At least let me get it on before you do my face!”

She falls back, nodding, and hands him the box. “Okay. Go get dressed.”

Reiner casts one last look at Galliard, smiling and shaking his head, as he retreats to the bedroom to get changed.

Ymir turns on the couch, studying Galliard with a slow, spreading grin that he likes less and less the wider it gets. “Historia made one for you too.”

“What.” It’s a statement, not a question, and Galliard narrows his eyes at her. “You’re lying.”

“Have I _ever_ …”

“ _Yes_.” 

Ymir waves one hand dismissively, still grinning that grin that Galliard doesn’t like. “Not about anything important! And, Gali…” She leans in, dropping her voice. “Pride is very, _very_ important.”

“It’s your first one, isn’t it?” Historia sits down primly on Galliard’s other side, her weight barely indenting the sofa cushion at all.

He turns to her, away from Ymir’s leer. “They don’t really do this where I’m from.”

“They’re missing out.” 

“ _Really_ missing out.” Ymir slings an arm around his shoulders, and Galliard jumps. “It’s a lot of fun. You’re going to like it.”

Galliard isn’t too sure about that. It seems awfully daring, being so open and honest about everything. It’s something he’s been working on, something he knows is important to Reiner, and agreeing to accompany him to the Pride parade is something that Galliard knows means a great deal to Reiner.

But Reiner never said anything about _costumes_.

“You’re wearing your normal clothes,” he points out to Historia and Ymir.

“I haven’t changed yet.” Historia pulls out her phone and starts scrolling through it. “Let me find you a picture…”

“Historia, you’ll be changing in like ten minutes! Let it be a surprise!”

“What are you wearing?” Galliard turns and asks Ymir.

She shrugs. “Whatever Historia made for me.”

“That’s a dangerous bargain.” All three of their heads swivel as Reiner re-enters the room, turning sideways to get through the door. “That’s how I ended up like this.”

The girls start crowing and getting excited, but Galliard is silent, his hand tightening on his beer can so he doesn’t drop it. When Reiner had said ‘peacock outfit,’ Galliard had imagined a shirt with spangles on it in the shape of peacock feathers, maybe a hat with some plumes on it. He hadn’t expected anything like _this_. 

Reiner looks like an escapee from a Vegas show, or like someone who should be attending Carnival in Brazil. His chest and arms are bare, his long legs exposed but for a small, shimmery pair of dark blue booty shorts that leave very little to the imagination. Not that Galliard has to imagine what’s underneath them, he knows very well, but there’s something about seeing Reiner covered just so, barely concealed behind thin, glittery fabric, that makes his stomach do slow, happy flips. The shorts have suspenders that strain across Reiner’s broad chest, the straps decorated with peacock feathers all the way up, the two biggest ones across the broadest part of his chest, artfully arranged to cover his nipples. There’s even a little hat covering Reiner’s blond hair, with a jaunty sprig at the top, bobbing yellow jewels imitating a peacock’s head feathers.

The tail is the real showstopper, spreading wide behind Reiner, wider than his arm span, made of a combination of real peacock feathers and ones made from sequins and glitter, a thousand golden eyes staring directly at Galliard and only one pair he really cares about. He has no idea how that tail is staying up, what kind of black magic Historia had to work to keep it in place, but it turns Reiner into an exotic, shimmering creature, masculine and powerful and beautiful all at once, and Galliard doesn’t even realize he’s getting to his feet until he’s already moving towards them.

Reiner tilts his head, looking down at him as Galliard steps right up in front of him, the little sprig on his hat bobbing with the movement, and Galliard reaches up to tweak it and make it dance. Reiner’s eyes follow the movement of his hand, and in one quick movement, he catches it and brings it to his lips, kissing the back of Galliard’s knuckles.

“Do you like it?” There’s the faintest hint of strain in Reiner’s voice, and Galliard knows that all he has to do is say the word, and Reiner will turn around and go back in the bedroom to take this off, and they’ll go to the Pride parade in normal clothes. And part of Galliard wants to ask that, doesn’t want to share his beautiful bird of paradise with the world, but that’s not fair to Reiner. It’s not fair to ask him to hide because of Galliard’s insecurities, and he grins as he twists his hand around to cup Reiner’s cheek.

“Needs more glitter.” And he stretches up for a kiss as Ymir whoops her approval beside them.

~*~

Reiner sees the hesitation in Galliard’s expression when he first comes out—Gali is very good at a lot of things, but a solid poker face is not a part of his skill set—and he feels weirdly naked. Reiner isn’t used to feeling naked, even when he’s wearing a ridiculous peacock outfit, and especially not in front of Galliard, who sees him actually naked on an almost daily basis. Galliard has never gone to a Pride event, he knows, and still carries scars from his past regarding that part of himself. They’re invisible scars, but Reiner knows how those can hurt the worst.

But then Galliard kisses him, and if Reiner’s tail were actually attached to him, instead of cleverly rigged to his suspenders and the back of his shorts, he’d be shimmying it with joy.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough of _that_.” Ymir gently shoves them apart, and Galliard tosses a friendly elbow in her direction, which she easily deflects. Reiner shares an amused glance with Historia; when the four of them are together, it’s easy to tell which two grew up with siblings and which two were only children. Galliard and Ymir tussle a little, throwing insults and elbows around with aplomb, while Reiner gets out of the way so they don’t bump his tail, and Historia digs into her endless bag of tricks.

“I have one for you too, Gali,” Historia sing-songs, and that gives Galliard enough pause that Ymir is able to get him in a headlock and vigorously rub a hand through his hair, sending it into a disarray and getting him yelling all over again. It’s not settled until he’s shoved her away and immediately started smoothing his hair back again.

“He has really nice hair, Reiner,” Ymir informs him, wiping her hands on her pants. “Do you ever get to touch it when it’s _not_ covered in gel?”

“That’s a _privilege_ ,” Galliard sniffs, before Reiner can answer, and then all four of them are laughing.

“It’s not as elaborate as his, is it?” Galliard asks once he’s got his breath back and his hair more or less back in place.

“Not at all.” Historia smiles sweetly as she pulls something black out of her bag and offers it to Galliard. Reiner raises an eyebrow at Ymir; he hadn’t heard about this plan, and has no idea what Historia is up to. Ymir is ignoring him, too busy threading out the dirty white laces of her black Converse and changing them to rainbow laces.

Galliard takes the bundle, trepidation written all over his face, but when he shakes it open, it’s just a black baseball jacket. He looks from Historia to Reiner in confusion, turning the jacket back and forth in his hands; except for a small red and orange feather embroidered on each side of the chest, it’s completely plain.

“Thanks, but I don’t get it.”

Historia giggles. “Put it on and then step into the light.”

Galliard does as he’s told, and Reiner is pleased to see that the jacket fits him perfectly, and doesn’t look too different from the battered old bomber he wears all autumn and spring. But then he steps into the daylight shining through the window, and Reiner catches his breath.

When the sun shines on it, there’s a pattern hidden under the jacket’s black fabric. When it catches the sun just right, the jacket shimmers and ripples with reds and golds, feathers and wings hidden just below the surface. As soon as Galliard moves, the pattern sinks back into hiding, but then another piece of it swims to the surface, and Galliard looks like he’s standing in a halo of light.

Galliard doesn’t notice it right away, but when he does, his eyes go wide, and he moves his arm up and down, watching the feathers appear and disappear. He looks mesmerized by it, and Reiner steps a little closer, ignoring how his tail brushes over the top of their dining room table and knocks some papers to the floor. He runs his fingers down Galliard’s back, feeling the sequins under the first layer of fabric and the silky smoothness of the top layer.

“He’s a phoenix,” Historia supplies helpfully. “I thought he’d want something a little more subtle, so when it’s in the shadows, it just looks like a regular jacket. But then in the light, you can see all the feathers.”

“It’s beautiful,” Galliard says quietly, and Reiner can tell that he’s touched. “Thank you, Historia.”

“My pleasure.” She’s pink with pride and happiness. “Everyone should have a good time at Pride.”

“And some of us aren’t fancy fuckers like these two, so we need something a little more subtle.” Ymir looks up from tying her new rainbow laces together. “Looking good, Gali.”

Galliard looks up at Reiner, and his cheeks are flushed and his eyes bright, and when he stretches up for another kiss, Reiner wraps an arm around his waist. A phoenix… that’s perfect. A bird reborn from its own ashes, living again after disaster and destruction, coming back stronger and more beautiful than it had been before… that’s Galliard, and Historia chose very well for him.

Reiner shifts his hip so his tail dips down and hides Galliard from view, and touches the side of his face so he can give him a real, proper kiss, deep and sweet, and leave them both breathless.

“Okay, okay, enough with the PDA, we need to get going or Jean is going to bitch us all out for being late!”

Reiner lifts his head; Galliard’s eyes are only half-open, his lips still slightly pursed, and Reiner tucks him in against his side as he looks over his shoulder. “Help me get my tail off?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Dastupid for bringing up the peacock outfit on Tumblr and inspiring this, and thanks to Kaschy for knowing the perfect outfit for Porco.


End file.
